An immense crowd of almost 46,000 turned out to watch a brilliant game of football between two old rivals, with the Bulldogs prevailing with a late try.
Bulldogs started strong and made a promising run down the right side before a Stephen Crichton inside ball was ruled forward. The Dogs then gave away 3 consecutive penalties in less than 2 minutes to invite the Eels down into the Dogs red zone.
Then on the 6th minute, Eels shifted right. They didn't have the numbers, but Blaize Talagi got outside his opposite and dived over to score in the corner. Mitchell Moses converted.
The Bulldogs got a reprieve in the 12th minute when Bryce Cartwright threw a woeful pass into touch. From the ensuing scrum, the Dogs shifted the ball right to Crichton who strolled in for a soft try. Matt Burton failed to convert from the sideline.
The Dogs again exploited the Eels left side in the 19th minute. This time Crichton uses his pace to get outside the defender, draws the cover and then gets a great offload to Blake Wilson, who comes back infield and scores. Burton converted.
In the 22nd minute it looked as though Deajarn Asi had got himself a try but the Bunker ruled that Crichton had a hand under the ball and thus, he had denied the Eels winger a try.
Sean Russell looked to have scored in the 30th minute, but the bunker again denied the Eels, after they found a knock-on by both Connor Tracey and Clint Gutherson when contesting a bomb in the lead-up.
The Eels weren't to be denied a third time. Moses on the last shaped to kick, dummied and then exploded through a small gap, flicked out the back to Cartwright who drew the defence before passing to Viliami Penisini, who scored back on the inside. Moses converted.
In the 39th minute, Burton hoisted up a monster bomb. As it came back down Gutherson fell over, the ball bounced sharply to the right into the waiting arms of Wilson who scored. The Bunker though rules that a host of Dogs players were offside who were involved in the play and the try was disallowed.
Moses had a shot at field goal on the stroke of halftime, but failed.
5 minutes after play resumed, the Eels extended their lead. Close to the Dogs line, the Eels produce a shortside play to Dylan Brown who dropped a short flat ball to Kelma Tuilagi who burst through a gap and scored. Moses converted.
The Bulldogs were denied a try to Bronson Xerri due to a forward pass from Toby Sexton in the 52nd minute, then 2 minutes later Kiraz almost gets to the line before losing the ball, then in the 58th minute Jacob Preston very nearly scored off a kick but grounded the ball on the dead ball line. A minute later, Blake Wilson went on a great run through the middle from deep inside his own half and gets well inside the Eels half before throwing a forward pass.
The Dogs finally added to their score in the 68th minute when they shifted to the right again, this time Connor Tracey got around and then sliced through the defence before turning the ball inside to Crichton who crossed for his second try. Burton converted.
With 5 minutes remaining in the game, Tracey got outside and then flew past Asi, drew the fullback and then sent a great ball to Wilson who scored. Burton converted.
The Dogs held onto their lead to record a well-earnt victory.